Thurs Aug 15th - MAGGIE'S LAST TRAIL RIDE - JUNCTION CREEK

The vet called this morning and said that Maggie's ashes were ready to be picked up so we headed down to Durango close to noon.  They did a nice job, putting her remains in an engraved wooden box and making a plaster footprint.  Picking her up was harder than I expected.

 

Junction Creek Trail starts right off the main drag in Durango.  It is rated a one for difficulty and a ten for scenic so we decided to take Maggie on one last ride.  She would have loved it.  It is 23.3 miles; mostly unpaved and reaches an elevation a little over 10,000 feet.  It runs along Junction Creek.  We stopped at the Animas Valley Overlook and took the .6 mile loop-hike.  It is gentle.  Our crazy friends Charles & Jane would probably have to run it instead of walking.  We did not realize how hazy it was down in Durango until we got above town which made for not the best pictures.  We only traveled about half-way up as we had our tires aired up for the highway and didn't want to let the air down since we would be driving back to Silverton.  We did see two rather large deer but they were too fast for the camera. They might have been Santa's reindeer as they seemed to fly across the road and up the side. The road got pretty rocky, forcing us to make the decision to turn around so we didn't damage the tires.  We will go back someday when we get an earlier start.  There is an old mine (The Neglected Mine) at the end of the trail and a more challenging Jeep trail at the end.  There is also the bridge where Paul Newman & Robert Redford jumped in "Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid."   Another day. 

 Animas Valley:

 

Town of Durango: